Prosecutor: Rockland man tried to kick dying wife as police led him away

Thursday

Jun 12, 2014 at 10:24 AMJun 13, 2014 at 8:32 AM

Prosecutors say Richard Langley stabbed Patrica Langley three times, then sat on his front steps while she bled to death on the grass.

Neal SimpsonThe Patriot Ledger

HINGHAM - Richard and Patricia Langley were 11 days shy of their 24th wedding anniversary when, according to prosecutors, an argument over a text message led Richard to stab his wife three times in their living room and then sit smoking a cigarette while she lay bleeding on the front lawn.Richard S. Langley, 56, was arraigned on a murder charge Thursday in Hingham District Court. He is accused of killing Patricia A. Langley, 52, identified by neighbors as a Rockland public school teacher. She was pronounced dead at a hospital after being stabbed at the family home Wednesday evening.

Richard Langley told Rockland police that a text message on his wife’s cellphone – a message that caused him to believe she was involved in a sexual liaison with another man – sent him into a rage, according to a State Police report filed in the Hingham court. The report says Richard Langley told the Rockland officers his wife came into a bedroom with a kitchen knife. He told police he took the knife from her and stabbed her with it, according to the State Police report.

Judge James McGovern ordered Langley held without bail until his next court date July 11.

A young woman sobbed aloud in a Hingham courtroom as Assistant District Attorney Keith Garland described how Richard Langley shouted, “Die, bitch, die,” at his wife as a Rockland police sergeant led him away from his home after the stabbing. Garland said a neighbor had rushed to press a towel against Patricia Langley’s bloody wounds as her husband, covered in blood, sat by and smoked a cigarette.

Outside the courthouse, Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz called the killing “one of the most vicious cases I’ve seen in quite a while.”

“The facts are incredibly disturbing, that someone could say that to someone that they’re married to,” he said.

Patricia Langley, who went by “Trisha,” was known in her neighborhood as a kind and loving mother of four who had grown up in a clapboard home just across from street from the front yard where she lay bleeding Wednesday night. Two neighbors said she was a teacher in the Rockland public schools, which released a statement Thursday saying the school community was “deeply saddened” by her death.

“She was a wonderful person and valued employee,” Superintendent John Retchless said in the statement. “Our thoughts and prayers are with her family.”

By Thursday afternoon, men in blue hazardous-material suits were still cleaning up a front walk and going in and out of the single-story house on Moncrief Road where the Langleys lived. Flowers had been left leaning against a nearby tree, along with a red paper heart that simply read “Patricia.”

“It’s just so hard,” said Carole Furlong, a neighbor who lives two doors down from the Langleys and knew Patricia Langley for more than 40 years. “You can’t imagine it. I never heard them fight or argue.”

Rockland police rushed to the home around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday after receiving several 911 calls about a woman bleeding and calling for help on the front lawn, according to a State Police report filed at the Hingham court. When officers arrived, police said, they found a neighbor holding a towel to Patricia Langley’s chest while her husband sat nearby in a blood-soaked shirt smoking a cigarette.

Police said Richard Langley did not resist as police put him in handcuffs. As he was led to a police cruiser, Langley turned to his wife, said, “I hope you (expletive) die, bitch,” and tried to kick her as she lay on the ground, according to one witness cited in the police report.

The neighbor told police Patricia Langley said, “He killed me,” as they waited for police and told him she couldn’t breathe, according to the police report. She was rushed to South Shore Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 10:23 p.m.

While searching the home, police said, they found a large pool of blood on the hardwood floor of the living room and a large bloody kitchen knife on a nearby sofa.

At the police station, Richard Langley told police he “flew off the handle” and cursed at his wife after finding text messages of sexual content on her cellphone, according to the State Police report. He said he suspected his wife of cheating on him with another man, using a racial slur to describe him, the report said.

After he cursed at her, Langley told police, his wife came into a bedroom brandishing a knife and he kicked her in the stomach, knocking her out of the bedroom and into the living room, the report said.

Langley told police his wife came at him with the knife a second time and he grabbed it from her, stabbing her in the chest, police said. Langley said he stabbed his wife twice more, police said.

The couple had been married on June 22, 1990, in Rockland, according to a marriage certificate on file in the town clerk’s office. Garland, the assistant district attorney, said police had no record of any domestic violence in the Langley home.

A man standing with the Langley family after the arraignment declined to comment, warning reporters to stay back as they walked out of the courthouse. Louis Badwey, the attorney representing Richard Langley, declined to comment.

Contact Neal Simpson at nesimpson@ledger.com or follow him on Twitter @NSimpson_Ledger.

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